Page 9 of Labria

“You prefer our soldiers to the cash bounty?”

“Yes, like I said. Who needs money?”

“Huh, well, I need to take this proposition to Don Bregoli. I believe he will be on board, but I will contact with his final answer.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”

“No, I will not hold you. I know you have many things to do and congratulations on being number two.” He smirked with his thin lips.

We both stood at the same time. He walked me to the closed door. Wu opened the door and Ming was standing there, waiting. I wondered if she could hear our conversation. Her brother would probably fill her in on our exchange.

Ming’s neutral face turned into a deep smile when our eyes met. Her smile was warm and inviting, but I knew better than to return her expression. I was hell-bent on maintaining a stoic look. Her brother duly noticed the flirtatious exchange she tossed my way.

Wu casually grinned at his sister. “I told Mr. Bregoli you were my bodyguard. I don’t think he believed me because you’re so pretty.”

Was that an odd thing for a brother to say? I had only recently acquired two sisters. “I believe him.” I replied. “But you could’ve easily been a supermodel.” I gave her an equally warm compliment because it seemed her brother had prompted a response for me.

“My brother is the only one in the family to master of art of height.” She teased. “I am too short for the runway but just the right size to be a Kung Fu master.”

“Which is far more important than being a model, in my humble opinion.”

“My thoughts exactly, Mr. Lord Bregoli.” She batted her long lashes at me. She was flirting, but I was in a committed relationship. Undeniably, I had to mentally remind myself of this fact.

“My sister will see you to your car. Until we meet again.” He bowed and shook my hand firmly.

“Yes, until we do.”

Ming hooked her arm through mine and I let her led me down the hallway, through the kitchen of restaurant and to the backdoor. In crew was waiting for me in the alleyway. One guard, a younger man, opened the back passenger door for me.

Chapter Four

LORDES

Ihad little time to no time. There was just enough time to go back to my loft to shower and change into something fresh. I had another meeting scheduled with Primo LaGrassa, the former capo of New York. He arranged for me to meet him at an Italian restaurant in Chicago up North near Navy Pier.

I arrived at the eatery and sat at the table alone. Of course, I had security with me. I had a total of four men on this detail. Two men at the front entrance of the establishment, one man sitting alone at the table nearby and there was a man on the driver’s side of the bulletproof truck that hauled me around the city.

Nicco wanted to make sure I was heavily guarded. At first it was a bother, but after all these months I had grown accustomed to it. These men were all Italian and all of them were BMF. Some were ex-military but still made men in the organization. The excessive entourage was clearly a show of force and power. Did tough guys really need tough guys to protect them? There was really no need for me to challenge or change what had been created before I entered the picture.

I impatiently waited alone at the table for Primo LaGrassa to show up. He just happened to be in town visiting with his son Tony, a soldier working under my half-brother Frankie, Chicago’s new capo. These set down dinners I found tedious, but it was a part of the job. Gangsters wanted sit down meetings where I was used to Zoom and telecom meetings in my legit businesses.

Primo wasn’t late for our dinner meeting. I arrived a few minutes early. I’d met Primo, the senior member of the LaGrassa family, a few times before today. His oldest son, Nikoli, was the capo in New York. Nikoli took over the spot his father once held. Some of the old-timers wanted things to stay in the family, and they were more than willing to groom their sons at an early age to take over the business.

The wait staff brought a bottle of white wine to the table right away. I needed a drink to ease my mind and give myself a pleasant personality. It infuriated me on the inside. Bria wasn’t taking my calls, and that wasn’t a good sign. She was stubborn to a fault. I couldn’t seem to make her happy, no matter how much I tried. Marrying her now was not an option. She would be furious if she found out why. Worse than her anger, I was sure she would leave me. A pregnant Bria was stuck with me and I was on a mission to lock her down, tie her to me forever, and win this war between us.

Just minutes into mentally strategizing how I was going to knock her up, an attractive woman walked over to me. She wasn’t wait staff. She was dressed too fancy for that title. I didn’t recognize her. Maybe she was a relative of the owner.

“Hello, can I help you?” I asked. I knew they had already searched her. The restaurant wasn’t open to the public. Civilians couldn’t just walk up to me.

“You sure can.” She smiled and flipped her long, dark brown hair over her shoulder.

I stood to greet her. “And you are?”

“Lolita LaGrassa.” She flipped her hair from her shoulder to her back. “I’m Primo’s daughter.”

I didn’t know Primo was bringing his daughter. Did she live in Chicago?

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